Letter: Time to bring tourism efforts to the next level

Saturday

May 3, 2014 at 11:00 AM

It was 2008 and the notion the Visitor's Information Center in Swansea on Interstate 195 East was closed because the commonwealth of Massachusetts decided it was no longer needed was more than concerning to me.

It was 2008 and the notion the Visitor’s Information Center in Swansea on Interstate 195 East was closed because the commonwealth of Massachusetts decided it was no longer needed was more than concerning to me.

My research showed more than 500 cars per day on average stopped there during peak season between Memorial Day and Labor Day. One indispensable service the VIC provided was the tourist information it handed out and the personal contact the staff had with the travelers.

A group of us put together a plan and contacted local and state officials about the prospect of reopening the VIC. After several visits and a lot of lobbying, it became obvious the Swansea VIC was not going to open because of numerous deficiencies at the facility and prohibitive costs to repair them.

My alternative plan was to repurpose part of the building at Heritage State Park and use it as a VIC. Imagine travelers stopping there and being given tourist information about our city and region. Imagine still if we had a trolley sitting in the parking lot to take them to see local places of interest, have a meal, shop or enjoy the waterfront attractions before they continue back on their way.

During the first Free Fun Friday in 2012, I and a group of volunteers set up a tourist information area on the waterfront and moved some of the 6,700 visitors uptown to local shops and restaurants by using trolleys and buses. We followed up with a survey to gauge the impact, and some businesses reported an increase of over 30 percent on that one day as a direct result of our efforts.

As a private citizen and former city councilor, I have advocated for years to use part of the Heritage State Park building as a Visitors Information Center. The benefits are obvious, especially as the waterfront takes shape and we are poised to open a new chapter in our city’s history.

We should also re-engage with Bristol Community College’s program on tourism and hospitality to get the college involved in developing our tourism assets by utilizing their resources. I approached BCC as chairman of the Fall River City Council’s Committee on Economic Development and Tourism, and they were willing to assist our city. We should be partnering and collaborating closely with them in establishing Fall River as a tourist destination.

If we are serious about economic development, job creation and tourism, then I urge our local and state officials to get this done. Also, it would not hurt to construct a transit dock so boaters can come ashore and spend their tourist dollars in our city. This was another project that I strongly advocated for but has yet to materialize. As folks have said, “No need for home runs; small base hits will do!”